I have enjoyed playing board and card games for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I loved competing against my family at home. Many years later, what we play may have changed but I still love my game nights.
Now there are countless games on the market that will provide hours of entertainment. It doesn’t matter your age, interests, or skill-level, there is a game for everyone. Since I know my readers are all travel-lovers, I have put together a list of the best travel-themed games that can be played at home.
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Please see disclosure for more information.
Contents
- The Best Travel-themed Games
- Tabletopics Destination Anywhere
- Chronicle Books London IQ: The Trivia Game for Londoners
- Trekking The National Parks: The Family Board Game (Second Edition)
- Ginger Fox Itchy Feet – Travel Themed Card Swapping Game
- Backpacker – The Ultimate Travel Game
- Lost Cities The Board Game
- Ticket To Ride
- Passport To Culture Travel Edition
- Mapominoes Europe – The Ultimate Geography Game
- 100 Pics of World Flags Travel Game
- Monopoly – Regular and Special Editions
- Carcassonne Board Game Standard
- Bruise Cruise: The Board Game
- Voice Originals – When in Rome Travel Trivia Game Powered by Alexa
- Tips for Having a Travel-Themed Game Night at Home
The Best Travel-themed Games
I like travel related games because they are both entertaining and educational. You can learn more about the world without leaving home. Some of these suggestions also require you to be strategic. It’s a delightful way to spend an evening or two!
You might also enjoy these printable road trip games at home too.
Tabletopics Destination Anywhere
While Tabletopics Destination Anywhere isn’t a competitive game, you will still have fun and learn more about the world and your friends and family. It’s an entertaining set of conversation starters that will get everyone talking about their awesome adventures and crazy vacations. It’s a great way to make a personal “bucket” list of dream destinations grow.
Some examples of the questions include:
- What do you always forget when you’re packing for a trip?
- Could you live in a foreign country for the rest of your life?
- Do you prefer taking tours or seeing sites on your own?
- Who’s the most interesting person you’ve met on your travels?
- Of the places you visited, which was completely different than you thought it would be?
- How has travel made you a better person?
This travel themed card game can also be easily played over a phone or video call (i.e. Facebook messenger or Zoom). It’s a fun ice-breaker. Everyone does not need to physically be in the same place.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
Chronicle Books London IQ: The Trivia Game for Londoners
If you love London or want to learn more about London, this is the perfect game. The multiple-choice questions will test your knowledge of London’s historic nooks and crannies, hotspots, tourist attractions (like the Tower of London), and favorite pastimes. It’s easy to play, correct answers are awarded IQ points and the team with the highest IQ wins.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
Trekking The National Parks: The Family Board Game (Second Edition)
Trekking the National Parks is a family-friendly board game that lets players experience the US National Parks from home. Players compete for points by claiming Park Cards and collecting trail stones as they race across the country. Every park card features an interesting fact and a stunning photograph that will inspire players to explore America’s National Parks like the Grand Canyon.
The parents that created this game traveled to every single National Park and want to inspire others and share their love of the National Parks. The game is for 2-5 players, ages 10 and up. Each game lasts 30-60 minutes.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
Ginger Fox Itchy Feet – Travel Themed Card Swapping Game
This travel-themed card game comes from the people behind the Itchy Feet Comic. Two to six players trade, steal, and swap cards while collecting items needed to travel. Each country requires three items. You must have these items, along with a passport, to travel there. It is suitable for ages 8 and up. The Itchy Feet game can also double as a deck of playing cards.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
Backpacker – The Ultimate Travel Game
Backpacker is a fantastic pocket-sized card game about traveling the world for 2 to 6 players. The goal is to outwit your opponents and be the player who returns home with the most photos. Visit different countries, enjoy beaches, trekking, wildlife, and culture. You will meet other travelers and get good and bad advice. The challenge is to avoid getting sick or missing the plane.
Just as each trip is different, no two games of Backpacker are ever the same. It will be fun and unpredictable! It’s compact so you can also take this game along on your next vacation. Backpacker is best for those ages 10 and up.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
Lost Cities The Board Game
In this classic board game, each player guides a team of explorers on up to five expeditions. To advance along an expedition path, the right card must be played. Team leaders have to decide when to play, hold, or discard their card while preventing their opponents’ teams from getting ahead.
Since the game is designed for two to four players, it makes for a fun game night. It’s easy to set up and learn so it can also be played with children ages 10 and up. Each game takes about 30 minutes. When you purchase Lost Cities it comes with a game board, 110 colorful expedition cards, 25 event tiles, 27 artifact tokens, 64 victory point tokens, 4 sets of explorer pieces, and a rulebook.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
Ticket To Ride
In this game, players collect cards that can be used to claim railway routes in North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who connect distant cities and to the player who builds the longest continuous route.
The rules are simple so Ticket to Ride can be learned in under 15 minutes. It is designed for 2-5 players aged 14 and up. Each game takes 30-60 minutes. It comes with an oversized board map of North America, 225 custom-molded train cars, 144 illustrated cards, and wooden scoring markers.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
There are several versions of the Ticket to Ride game that might also be interesting:
Passport To Culture Travel Edition
With over 1,000 new and unique questions, Passport to Culture helps you learn more about different cultures around the world. As you answer questions correctly, you collect passport stamps! The first one to fill their passport wins, though the challenge continues as players check their CQ (Cultural Intelligence Quotient) score to see who will earn top marks!
This game about traveling comes with 203 country and continent cards (with over 1,000 questions), 5 passports, 50 magnetic passport stamps, custom Passport To Culture die, 15 answer cards, a score pad, and instructions. This version of Passport to Culture is easily portable and recommended for children 8 years or older. You can play as teams or individuals, the game allows 2-5 players.
Note: The travel edition of this game is more portable and includes more questions than the standard version.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
Mapominoes Europe – The Ultimate Geography Game
This game for travelers is like dominoes but with a twist. You use the pieces to build a map of Europe, by connecting countries that share a common border. No geography knowledge is required as all the information needed is written on the cards. It’s a fun way to learn geography as you play.
There are also Mapominoes for other continents and they can all connect to each other. It can be played by 2-5 people and is well-suited for both children (age 8 and up) and adults.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
100 Pics of World Flags Travel Game
This pocket-sized game is a fun and educational way to learn about some of the world’s 100 most recognizable flags. You can get an anagram clue to help if you need it. The game box is designed so that you can play alone or with the whole family (recommended for ages 6 and up). Take it with you to keep everyone entertained while you travel too.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
Monopoly – Regular and Special Editions
Monopoly was my favorite game growing up. We would spend hours playing it. As a child, I had no idea that it was modeled after Atlantic City, New Jersey. (In other countries, your monopoly board may have been patterned after London). All I cared about was trying to get as many properties as possible, buy up all the hotels, and of course, win! We also loved to make up new rules.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
Now, there are countless special editions of monopoly so you can choose a theme that interests you like:
- London Underground (Perfect if you can’t make it to the London Transport Museum)
- Edinburgh
- National Parks
Carcassonne Board Game Standard
Carcassone was inspired by the medieval fortress in southern France of the same name. It is a game of strategy for 2-5 players that has been around for over 15 years. Each turn a player places a tile to build out the landscape. You use “followers” to claim the features. There are a lot of opportunities to disrupt the plans of your opponents. Points are calculated based on having followers on features as they are finished.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
There is also a version for kids, called My First Carcassone.
Bruise Cruise: The Board Game
Bruise Cruise is set in treacherous waters of the Caribbean in the fictional future when rival cruise lines try to destroy each other and raid ships. The goal is to find a balance between cruising and “bruising.”
The game is played on a map with relatively simple rules that lead to complex outcomes. Action cards allow each player to sail, dock at ports, or acquire weapons or life preservers, while “Unfathomable” cards allow players to do things like warping their ships to the Shady Offshore Bank or Warlord Island.
With each action card you also get text that teaches you strange and amusing facts about the ports and countries you’ll visit during game play. You are encouraged to take big risks until the cards run out and the game ends.
Games will take somewhere between 30 and 80 minutes depending on the number of players and their experience levels. While this cruise board game is recommended for players aged 14 and up, some younger kids may also enjoy it.
Click here to check the price and read more reviews on Amazon.
Voice Originals – When in Rome Travel Trivia Game Powered by Alexa
When in Rome is a travel trivia game where Amazon’s Alexa is the game show host! She will transport you to 20 cities (London, Mumbai, Cape Town, Tokyo, e.g.) on the world map game board and introduce you to real locals. These locals will ask unique questions from seven categories (slang and language, building and history, food and drink, random and strange, art and culture, sport and games, and myths and legends).
The questions are designed for those 13 or older and you need two teams to play the game. The teams compete to make new friends, earn upgrade cards, and collect souvenirs in each new city they visit. Collect all three souvenirs, the game ends and the winner is the team with the most points!
In order to play the When in Rome game, you need an Alexa enabled device like the Echo Dot (1st Gen & 2nd Gen), Amazon Echo (1st Gen & 2nd Gen), Echo Show, Echo Plus, Kindle Devices w/ Alexa, and Fire TVs w/ Alexa or the Alexa app on a mobile phone. It is part of a new series of board games designed to be played with Alexa, from multi-award winning Beasts of Balance creator Sensible Object.
Update: Unfortunately this game is no longer available.
Tips for Having a Travel-Themed Game Night at Home
Any one of these top board games for travelers would make for a fun evening. Some travel-lovers may want to make playing games at home into a theme night. Here are some tips:
- Enjoy some international beverages while playing the games. Wine, beer, cocktail, juice, etc.
- Choose some ethnic snacks to go along with the games.
- Find some complimentary music to play in the background.
- Be creative and see if you can come up with a costume. It can be as simple as dressing up like a tourist.
- Require everyone to use travel-themed team names. Think about using destinations or travel company names in a creative way.
- Create name cards with a travel emblem such as an airplane, compass, or suitcase.
Also check out my suggestions for other ways to travel the world from home.
Any of these games could make a great gift too. If you need more gift ideas, be sure to check out my recommendations for presents for travel lovers.
What are your favorite travel-related games?
-Anisa
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Last Updated on December 16, 2021